Your Fort Lauderdale Weekend: A Riverfront Fall Festival, Brazilian Drums, and a Free Museum Sunday

This weekend brings the Founding Families Fall Festival at the Stranahan House on the New River Friday evening, Miamibloco's samba drums at The Parker in Holiday Park Saturday night, and free admission for Fort Lauderdale residents at NSU Art Museum on Las Olas Sunday.

Late September is quiet in Fort Lauderdale. The boat show crowd is still five weeks out, and the city belongs to the people who live here. This weekend plays to that. Every item below is confirmed against the venue's or organizer's own page, with times included.

Friday: The Founding Families Fall Festival at the Stranahan House

The Stranahan House was built in 1901. It is the oldest surviving structure in Broward County, and it still sits on the New River at 335 SE 6th Avenue, next to the Riverside Hotel.

On Friday, September 25, the museum hosts its Founding Families Fall Festival from 5 to 8 PM. Admission is $5 for adults. Children get in free.

• Food trucks
• Beer and wine vendors
• Free Water Taxi rides
• Games for all ages
• Live music

The Water Taxi rides are the detail worth planning around. Seeing the New River from the water at sunset is the fastest way to understand why downtown grew where it did.

Saturday Night: Miamibloco at The Parker

Miamibloco brings Carnaval drums, Afro-Brazilian music, and samba to Lillian S. Wells Hall at The Parker, 707 NE 8th Street, on Saturday, September 26 at 7:30 PM.

The show is part of the Broward Center's Amplify Arts Series, which backs local artists and emerging arts organizations. It is billed for all ages. Tickets are sold through Ticketmaster from The Parker's event page. Prices were not listed on the venue's page when we checked.

Also Saturday: A Ravi Shankar Tribute at the Amaturo

If your Saturday leans quieter, the Association of Performing Arts of India presents Legacy: A Tribute to Bharat Ratna Pt. Ravi Shankar in the Amaturo Theater at the Broward Center at 6 PM.

The lineup includes Pt. Partho Sarothy, Vidushi Mita Nag, Pt. Subhen Chatterjee, and George Brooks, among others. It is an evening of Indian classical music, performed by maestros and disciples of the sitar tradition Shankar carried around the world.

Both Saturday shows start early enough for dinner after.

Sunday: Free Fort Lauderdale Neighbor Day at NSU Art Museum

On the last Sunday of every month, NSU Art Museum at 1 East Las Olas Boulevard opens free to Fort Lauderdale residents. This month that is Sunday, September 27, from noon to 5 PM.

Bring proof of address. The museum accepts any of these:

• A photo ID
• A driver's license
• A residential utility bill showing a Fort Lauderdale address

The café pours 2-for-1 wine during Neighbor Day. Museum-published books are 10% off in the Café and Store.

Why a Real Estate Team Writes a Weekend Guide

A zip code tells you almost nothing about how a place lives. A Friday on the New River does.

Lourdes Maestres has spent 17 years selling luxury homes in Fort Lauderdale, from the New River neighborhoods around the Stranahan House to the streets around Holiday Park. She knows which blocks walk to Las Olas, which ones hear the drawbridge horns, and which ones sit ten minutes from the Broward Center. That is the part of a home the photos never show.

If you are weighing a move to Fort Lauderdale, or thinking about what your home is worth this fall, call Lourdes Maestres and the MPH Team. We will start with the neighborhood, then the numbers.